LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

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3 At 1405 on 2 February we cast off, proceeded down New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty, dropped the Coast Guard pilot at 1613, and sailed fo-r the Chesapeake. We were on our own-with only our faulty compasses to depend upon, which was all right while skirting the Jersey Coast. Around midnight, however, we came to Delaware Bay, a heavy mist descended, and we were truly at sea. Luckily the water was calm, and after some fumbling the proper channel buoy was located. No one got much sleep, but from then on all went compara- tively w-ell, until late the next day we passed Cape Henry and arrived at Little Creek. Receiving orders to proceed, we set off for Solomons, anchoring off Cove Point at 0400 on the 4th. At ten o-'clock that day we made our first appearance at Solomons, mooring to the .404 at Pier 8. Five hours later Commander Martin held a most unsatisfactory arrival inspection, mainly because we had buoy-hopped rather than navi- gated from New York, it did not impress him that we had at least found the buoys and arrived safely. QThe 540 had torn her bottom out on the jersey shore a few days before.j Shakedown started on 5 February, with the 542 inaugurating -a new system of three-day independent steaming-with a lieutenant in- structor in navigation aboard we traveled continuously up and down th-e Chesapeake, holding general drills and beaching. Back at Solomons the ship joined the Shakedown Group under Lt. Com. Bailey in the 541. After two days of formation steaming the morning of the 11th was devoted to emergency hand steering practice, we rigged block and tackle successfully, but the quadrant was sprung, and the pin ,could not be reinserted for mechanical steering. This required a night at ATB for rewelding and alignment of the quadrant. On the morning of the 12th the 543 joined the formation with anchor ball bravely flying at the yardarm , we at least were not that green, nor was Neff as slow on the radio as the 411 C Radio name, Junior- Junior, junior! Please pay attention ! j. After a night off Little Creek the Group beached at Virginia Beach, returning in a snowstorm to Little Creek. The shakedown continued with more steaming, drills and beaching, ending on the 16th with anti-aircraft practice, firing at a target sleeve. That night we returned to Solomons, where Lt. Com. C. B. D. Brown, our new Group Commander, made his first appearance, by that time we had been transferred to the new training Flotilla 17. ' I On 17 February LaPort-e, fresh from boot camp, replaced -King, and after being delayed by fog we sailed from Solomons for availability at Norfolk, though no one could explain why a HCW ffaining Ship fe' quired availability. Endurance trials were held on the way down the Bay Cflank speed about 17 knotsj until a heavy fog set in at 2000. The rest of the trip to the Little Creek anchorage was nervewracking,

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2 The next day Ensigns Littlejohn and Hand reported, and the three officers sailed on a Chesapeake midshipmen's cruise aboard the 484, while the men went home for ten days. On 12 December we became Crew 3303, and Cox King, GM 3c McCabe, and S lc Matthews joined us. The round of classes and drill began again and continued until Christmas- Eve, by which time Danielson, Carr and Lazarus had been added to our number. A sombre Christmas at Solomons was some- what lightened by a 72-hour liberty the next day. 28 December we and the crews which later manned the 538 and 539 crowded aboard the 503 for the iinal training cruise in the Chesapeake. Despite the cold, cramped quarters we survived, although Mr. Littlejohn, Chovanez and Neff were alittle the worse for it. Upon our return it was an- nounced that Crew 3303 had received one of the highest marks. of all the crews in training, entitling us to fourteen days' leave, so on 10 January 1944 we took off for home and, in Matthews' case, marriage. The second morning after reporting in at Pier 92 we traveled by truck and auto to the New jersey Shipbuilding Company Yard at Barber, N. J. and there found the 542 comp-leted at the pier. There also we met the rest of the crew for the first time: Doc Simpson, Ayn-es, Clenney, Cseripko, Eldridge, Hoblit, Howard, Petit, Roberts, Williams and Winn. Then at 1226, January 26, 1944 U. S. S. LCICLJ 542 was formerly commissioned with the raising of the ensign and commission pennant and setting of the watch, her initial orders as- signed her to Flotilla 9 for training duty in the Chesapeake. After a sandwich lunch and the arrival of a pilot we got under way for the lirst time at 1409, holding the required fire drill upon leaving the dock. The cruise through debris-lilled New York Harbor to Pier 42, North River took about two- hours and provided some excitement when one of the screws struck a submerged log. Upon our arrival we were dismayed to find that the old two-week fitting-out period had b.een cut to five days. The live days were spent for the most part in feverish loading and stowing of supplies and equipment. 'There was a break on the after- noon of the 28th, when the YWCA of New York sponsored us., along with the 5415 that evening the YWCA gave us a line party at their clubhouse, enjoyed by all who could go, but especially by Co-rnett. Early the next morning the old Swedish pilot, Gustav Klang, took us to Bayonne for flashing and then in the afternoon to a small island in the Bay to load ammunition. We returned to Pier 42 to find Ensign Hillman waiting to report for duty. Small craft warnings prevented our Scheduled departure on February 1, neverthe-less the compasses were compensated that morning in a high wind in the lee of the Hudson's Jersey shore. The weather was too foul for the pilot, who brought the ship to Weehawken, whence after lunch a tug towed us back to Pier 42.

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4 especially after narrow brushes first with an unknown ship and then with a column of destroyers. The next morning we proceeded to Nor- folk, docking alongside the 409 at Pier S, Lambert's Point. All the other ships there were Boston-built and all painted Pacific green 5 were we headed for the Pacific? Welders, some of them small boys, swarmed aboard to alter the ramps and make other repairs, while the rest of the ships loaded overseas stores. and later were repainted Atlantic gray. For a while they still said we were to be a training ship, then they said maybe not-we'd better stock up. So we did, and as many of the ship's company as possible went ho-me for a couple of days.. At last they told us we were to go- to Europe with the other ships 5 we were now in Flotilla 12 and Lt. Com. L. R. Henry, in the 408, our temporary commander. On 3 March we moved to Little Creek anchorage, where a convoy conference was held ashore-ten of us were to- trail a UGS fGibraltarj convoy as escorts . There were the LCIS 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 401, 403, 539, 541, and ourselves. At 1034 on 4 March 1944 the anchor was raised and housed for the Atlantic crossing, a trip that only ,three of ship's company had made before, the Captain, McCabe and Roberts. After passing out through the Capes the ship took up her co-nvoy position as last ship in the 12th of 13 columns, astern of the liberty ship'r Wm. E. Borah g before long almost everyone was seasick. For days a head wind and mod- erately rough Northeast sea bounced the 542 about a good deal, but sometimes the rolling Borah seemed to be having a worse time of it. The sky was rarely clear, so that navigation became mostly a matter of following in the wake of the sturdy Borah , a most courteous ship, which passed on all convoy signals and always let us know her prospective movements. S-o we continued for twelve days, most o-f us overcoming seasickness with the aid of dry crack- ers and grapefruit. LaPorte always wore his foul weather stock- ings and white sneakers and carried his bucket whenever he had to get up to take the helm. Finally on the morning of 16 March the LCIs left the convoy and proceeded due North alone. Despite a great deal of signal confusion during the night, especially on the part of the 539, we arrived safely the next morning off the island of Fayal in the Azores, escorted by porpoises-the rich green grass looked wonderful. At 1015 a gnarled Portuguese pilot clambered aboard, and we manned the rails and entered the harbor of Horta, tying up alongside the 412 at the sea wall. Horta p-roved a fine liberty port, although liberty was restricted for a day and a half until Sunday. That was the day that Bruce, Neff and Matthews had a champagne party, topped off by Bruce's lecture in French to the rabble from the top of a woodpile. Several